Crossing a River into Guatemala

It was 9:00pm when we bought our lancha tickets to take us to Guatemala. The boat headed the opposite direction to Yaxchilán and the ride was only about 30 minutes to Bethel, Guatemala.

The view of the jungles on both the Mexican and Guatemala sides were amazing.  The wind running through your hair, etc.

Our boat docked at the bottom of a steep sandy hill. A young Guatemala boy right away grabbed our two heavy luggage bags and managed to bring them both up to the tienda at the top of the hill. The walk up was fairly long.

Meanwhile, a lady was offering to exchange our Mexican pesos for Guatemala quetzales at a 2:1 exchange rate which seemed a bit high but I don't think she was robbing us. She led us to a blue shack at the top of the hill where she sold us the bus tickets for $100 quetzales. When I inquired about the 10am bus she explained that there had been a 10am bus, but when a bunch of tourists showed up direct from Palenque at 9am the 10am bus left with them on board. The next bus was to leave arrived at around 10:10am and was told it was our bus, but that it wouldn't leave for a couple hours when it was full.

Meanwhile, we settled into a set of hammocks and met a couple from Toronto and we talked on and off.

Ruinas Palenque

It's 6:30am, I'm not heating no rooster this morning, instead I'm hearing the sounds of exotic birds, well exotic for me, perhaps an annoyance to them. Was thinking I'd be hearing monkeys too, but no such luck.

One thing I've picked up on in México is these little buses called Colectivos. They have them in México City and I'm sure other places I've visited. But what's interesting is that they have them in Palenque as well and I need to take one to the Palenque ruins. The interesting part is that I have had a need to study to find out how they work.

Colectivos are these small buses with markings in their windows in marker, paint, colored tape or cardboard sign with the hand written destination. In México these buses are green and seem to have these predetermined stops. Here in Palenque they're white and if you look at one the wrong way they either scream out their window for your attention or do U-turns and will verify your need for their service. 
Here in México everything is organized, not just the crimes. Taxis belong to an organization and so do the colectivos. Having said that, taking a colectivo should be a breeze.

Anyway, today looks to be a very nice day. Bought a fútbol baseball cap yesterday for $285. Just had a nice full breakfast and their wonderful café listening to salsa music from the restaurant next door.